Kicking off Season 2 with a man who literally does it all! Professional wrestler is just one of the many accomplishments of his career. He is a master of many talents…and for a podcast all about the art of side hustling, I can’t think of a better guest to kick off the season with than Brimstone!
About Brimstone:
Check out Brimstone’s official website for a link to his full bio
Brimstone has had a successful and rewarding career spanning well over four decades; participating in numerous entertainment fields boasting a list of titles including professional wrestler, radio host/professional podcaster, actor, voice actor, author, musician, philanthropist, food critic, horror model, and comic book/animated/children’s book/video game hero. He’s been called a Renaissance man by many, but more accurately described as a well seasoned entertainer, celebrity personality and serial entertainment entrepreneur.
Follow Brimstone on Social Media (Blue Check on all EXCEPT Twitter):
[Instagram] [Facebook] [Giphy] [Twitter] [Vero: Brimstone]
Check out Brimstone’s Podcast : The Grindhouse Radio on iHeartRadio, Google Play Music, iTunes
Click HERE to listen to the Episode.
Top 5 Fun Facts about Brimstone (in his own words):
1. I’m a proficient cook (just don’t like the clean up)
2. I have a low tolerance for bullies and bullshit
3. I can sing-a-long to a large number of Disney songs without missing a word or note.
4. I love animals and have real relationships with zoos and aquariums around the country allowing me to have personal experiences others don’t get to have!
5. I grew up hip-hop…I love rap music and can rhyme myself.
Episode Transcript (Episode 1):
Season 2, Episode 1- Brimstone
Alexandra:
Hey everybody, and welcome to The 9 to Side Podcast where we chat with super amazing and inspirational people who pounded the pavement before and after their nine to five to get their side hustles off the ground. After listening to the interviews to these amazing guests, you’ll walk away with a refreshed pep in your step and a newfound motivation to make your side hustle a reality.
Hey, everybody, and welcome to season 2 of The 9 to Side Podcast. I’m Alexandra Faust and if you’re new, welcome, if you’re coming back, welcome back. If I told you how many times I recorded this intro, you would probably pass out 500 times. I have not done this in three months, which doesn’t seem like a lot of time. But I feel like I’ve been under a rock for the summer. And by under a rock, I mean out the sun with a cocktail in my hand for three months straight. So welcome back to season two. This podcast is all about just a refresher for people who might be new. This podcast is all about talking to people who have side hustles alongside their full-time jobs if it’s a nine to five, or they’re a full-time parent or people who have had a side hustle in the past that they have transitioned into a full-time career. So talking to them about their story, about how they made that leap. But basically, every person that I talked to on this podcast has an insane worth, work ethic, and it makes me feel tired and lazy just talking to them because it’s incredible what they’re able to accomplish in addition to, you know, their regular full-time day of work. So I think you’re gonna love season 2, it’s amazing. So for my first guest of season 2, you guys might know him, his name is Brimstone. He’s a professional wrestler, but he has so many more credits to his career. And I feel like he’s the ultimate side-Hustler, which is why I think he is such a great guest and has so much to offer. And he’s been described actually as a “Serial Entertainment Entrepreneur”, which I think describes him perfectly after talking to him and listening to his whole career, which spans over 4 decades. It includes as I said, he’s a professional wrestler, a radio host, a professional podcaster, an actor, a voiceover actor, an author, a musician, a food critic, a horror model, a comic book, video game hero, I mean, he does everything. And like it just goes on and on and on. And he was just listed as number 2 from Podcast Mag 40 over 40s list of most influential podcasters in the world. He’s the President, CEO, and host of The Grindhouse Radio. He’s such an incredible guy, his work ethic is insane. And so I felt like all the tips he offered and just the experience he’s had over the last four decades of his career is so helpful and inspiring to hear. And so I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I enjoyed chatting with him. This is my interview with Brimstone.
Thank you so much Brimstone for joining me, your resume is extensive, you have so much going on. And so I think you’re unique in terms of some of the guests that I have on that have a typical nine to five, maybe a corporate job, and then they’re working on, you know, one side hustle that they’re working on. So I’d love to back up and hear a little bit about you and how you got started. Because it does sound like in your early career, when you were getting the wrestling going that you, that did initially kind of start as a side hustle. And then from there, how did the rest of your career kind of evolved?
Brimstone:
Well, first and foremost, I want to say finally Brimstone has made it to the 9 to Side hustle year where we’re gonna be, we’re gonna be hanging out when you call it here today. So I appreciate you, and I appreciate your time being Brimstone. I mean, I’ve been Brimstone again for over 20 years, I have been in entertainment since I was little. I started out in entertainment on Sesame Street and Romper Room as a child actor then toured the world of music toward the world and pro wrestling and so forth. So funny enough, I mean, I started my first, true all my first, true side hustle was when I was a kid and I would go around shoveling, you know, driveways and so forth. So in high school, one of my friends, his girlfriend at that time, her father was a doctor, and he had said to me, he goes look at what I’m doing here. I’m getting these gloves. I have to do all the ordering for him, but they also have condoms. We should go on a lot, and I said all right well, how much are we talking here? So it was only a couple of 100 bucks for like a billion condoms. So I was like, you’ve got latex condoms. You’ve got latex gloves. Can you get the masks to gag? You get the masks? Why don’t we put together a little thing and we called it Dr. Packer heads let’s play doctor sex kit and we put it out on market? I went door to door as a teenager selling these Dr. Packer heads let’s play doctor sex kits to Spencer’s. I’m sure you’re familiar with Spencer’s Yeah, oh, I love Spencer’s. Back in the day, world imports. And I went into all the different adult shops, and I sold tons of these things. And they became such a big deal for the bachelorette parties and stuff.
Alexandra:
And you, did you do this after school? What grade are you in high school?
Brimstone:
Yeah. I was in 11th and 12th grade. I started in 11th and in 12th grade was when it really got the ball rolling. And then my first year of college wound up happening, the only reason why we didn’t continue and I had ideas is because my buddy went out, up to school and his parents tossed all of the stuff, that is all our stock. So all of the stock that we had was thrown away. They didn’t think to ask me or ask him and that was that. And what do you call it? That was the end of the business, unfortunately, because I didn’t have the contacts with Malaysia to do what needed to get done. And he stopped dating the girl. So it was done. Oh my God! And that was my first true side hustle entrepreneurial thing. Not long after that. Like I said, I went to college and the music thing. I was making money just playing out and playing gigs. I was a drummer for many, many years.
Alexandra:
What was the name of your band? How did you play music your whole life? I feel like you have so many chapters.
Brimstone:
Yeah. You know, I just, I usually glance over everything. But what do you call it? I was in a bunch of different bands. The bigger ones were Who’s Laughing Now, Bugsy, and one of them was Image which was an all-instrumental band. And but Who’s Laughing Now and Bugsy with the two bigger ones. And we’re getting a lot of stuff?
Alexandra:
And you were getting paid for that? And so you’re making money. So
Brimstone:
Yeah, you know, I was doing music. And I was doing all the stuff there. And I was like, I don’t need to finish school, I could go and do this, you know, but I really wasn’t going and I’m not a school guy. I’m, you know, let’s make it happen. And, you know, I learn about real-life situations. Now the thing here is, I will always tell everybody, and I’ve done it and I’ve spoken in schools all over the country. I do kids’ days all over the country for pop culture, conventions, you name it. And I always tell the kids to always have a backup, you always go to school, finish school because I wish I had taken it a little more seriously. And instead of skirt-chasing went to class.
Alexandra:
So, I can’t believe, so you have, okay, so you did the Spencer’s and you’ve got the music thing going on, you’re in college, you decide to you don’t need to finish college, you’re still doing music or you decided to break up with the band that you were in, you were in multiple bands at the same time. And you decided
Brimstone:
Yeah. No, they were consecutive. I went from one to the next and some with the same people. But you know, with the people I was with, I kind of got there was a very big difference in opinion. I’m not telling out, I want to live in a band and band life and tour and, you know, no, then at that point, when I decided I was getting out of music, I had a little one on the way, I was with my first wife at that point. And it just wasn’t the right move for me. So I decided I’m gonna split from these guys. And I was still playing. But I was at the time working for because I had always worked in sales. When I started growing in music, I kind of worked it together because they were always the big, you know, music publications for the most part. So at that point, that’s when I made the decision to stop playing with these guys. And by chance, I wound up going to do an event with one of the writers, Bill Jensen, who I still will always give credit to this day. They knew I was a salesperson, but again, my side hustle, they knew I liked what he called, you know, taking photographs as a photographer on the side, nothing crazy, but my stuff had been published. So they were like, “Hey, we’re, we don’t have any photographers in”. And Bill’s going to do this thing on Wrestling this weekend. Would you be interested in going and you know, doing some photos for him and you know, kind of tagging along and pretty cool? We’ll pay you for it. I was like, “Sure, why not?” So I was like, “Alright, sure. Let’s go”. So I went. And sure enough, when he called we had a great time, a lot of the people that I met there, we ended up becoming good friends of mine years later., and Brett overheard. And he said, “Listen, you know, because she’s like, “You look like you could be a wrestler, you know?” And I said, “All right, well, let’s talk and blah, blah, blah”. And Brett overheard and gave me his email address and said, “Listen, if you’re really trying to get into the business, you know, here’s my email, you know, I’m happy to answer any questions for you”. Once I started doing the wrestling thing, the first actual outdoor show I did in front of 10s of 1000s of people was insane. At that point, wrestling was the side hustle, and then the corporate position was my day-to-day. And soon enough, once I did, you know, pay my dues and make my bones in the business and in terms of wrestling, it swapped, and I started, I was touring and I was doing wrestling stuff on the weekends. And then I started what do you call it saying, well, now these days, my side hustle, and when I had to be a way to wrestle, I would prefer to be away as opposed to being in the builder. You know what I mean, in terms of, you know, working the corporate job.
Alexandra:
I was just curious how, during that transition time you made that work like wow, I mean, that side hustle is particularly time intensive, obviously, I’m assuming you’re traveling, how did you balance that during, you know, you’re doing sales? So I’m assuming there’s a little flexibility with location and where you’re at, but where they very, were you open about pursuing this on the side or did people know that this is obviously what you’re working towards for your career, and that’s ultimately where you kind of wanted to go. So
Brimstone:
Newsday people weren’t thrilled about it, because I was good. I, you know, they brought. They bought me from The Voice.
Alexandra:
What were you selling at Newsday, just out of curiosity?
Brimstone:
So Newsday, I wound up doing a preprint. You know, when I went up, leaving Newsday I opened up my own pro wrestling school, and that and that was the number one, and then the wrestling was well Brimstone. Personally, as the brand was number one. That’s the business and then the wrestling school was the side hustle.
Alexandra:
Okay, so you branded Brimstone as always your wrestling name? Just give me the timeframe of how many years it took you to do the switch from Newsday being your full-time gig, what was that time period?
Brimstone:
I started wrestling in about 96. And around 99 is when I opened up the school or 2000s when I opened up the school.
Alexandra:
And you left Newsday completely, and that became your full-time?
Brimstone:
Yeah!
Alexandra:
So you left and so then
Brimstone:
I left, I left a little bit before I opened the school.
Alexandra:
So since 99, you were doing, you were still doing, the wrestling, the school, the and then the school, and that became your, your full time, your whole full time career.
Brimstone:
The school then became my second business because Brimstone reverse business. The school was my second business and then doing shows became a side hustle. Doing anything out, external from the school because it’s everything that’s all extra because I was, I was concentrating on building a business at that time. So being doing anything externally wanted to become a side hustle. Does that make sense?
Alexandra:
Yeah, no, absolutely. Because I want to talk about it. So the school is like training wrestlers to be on the circuit. And then do people come just for fun to do that? Are you really grooming it’s a training ground to put people onto the professional wrestling circuit?
Brimstone:
Both. So I was very welcoming to a lot of different people who didn’t have that opportunity, you know, and they needed a home.
Alexandra:
When did you retire? What year did you retire from wrestling, fully?
Brimstone:
No, no. Um, I took a break, I stepped out of the spotlight. My God, I can’t remember what year. In 2007, I went back into wrestling. And I started to train the boys at one of my old, one of my old students’ schools. And I said, You know what, I need to get back into the business and get back into the bubble guy. Starting 2008, 2009, I started doing the red carpets in Manhattan again, sort of getting my name back out. It’s a circulation and then I’ve been back ever since you know doing you know Brimstone 24/7.
Alexandra:
Let’s talk about some of the other things and how they came about like the radio, The Grindhouse Radio and your Hound Entertainment Group. Talk to me about some, how those came about. And what those are, and some of your speaking, your speaking gigs as well.
Brimstone:
Okay, so now everything fits. And it’s the next natural progression of everything. So I’m a very big believer of, next natural progression. So I decided that, you know, I wanted to take the character out of the ring, and one of my first loves before drumming even, was art. I used to love comic books. And it all comes full circle as well. Alright! So what do you call it! Yeah, so I used to love reading and drawing and a lot of my characters, you know. Like, like Spider Man and the X Men and blah blah blah blah. So these are my favorite characters. Then I said, I can take the Brimstone character. I was the gimmick guy. So all the character work that I did, I cannot, take a wrap it into the character has nothing to do with wrestling. And I’m gonna build this thing out called Brimstone and the Borderhounds. And what do you call it? It was a comic book that we came out with. I called up, with my friend Marcello Carnevali, who was a screenwriter at the time and he wouldn’t call it that and also wrestled with me. And we met up for the infamous cup of coffee that everybody’s heard about. That was, should have been about an hour. We were there for about three, four hours. We wrote out the entire Bible for the comic book, for the cartoon, the whole nine yards. And we launched in the Borders Books, we were the only independently owned and operated comic in Borders Books. We did a signing there when he suddenly had Marvel, DC image, which are the big brands. And we were, we were independent. So, what do I have to touch on?
Alexandra:
No, I was gonna ask you how, So for anybody that’s listening. I mean, obviously, if you are a public figure like you are, you have a name, it’s a little easier to do offshoots of things and get things going because you’re not coming from nothing and walking into a Borders or something. Tell me about the steps. Was it just calling somebody up that you knew at the bookstore or getting in? What was the process of, like getting yourself in there for the signing? Or do you just have to call up because they know who you are as a public figure, and they’re excited to have your book in there, they don’t really care if you’re with a publisher.
Brimstone:
It depends. It depends. For the signing, we got in because I knew people at that specific Borders. But for Borders Books, we were in Borders nationally, we were distributed into Borders 1000s of books. Essentially, we had to go through I mean, I can’t remember the name of the company, maybe it was Lightning Source or something like that. What they do is they distribute all the magazines and so forth, to the different bookstores and you know, whatever. So first, we did it for Borders, Borders were starting to close down. So I pulled from all the Borders. And then I put them in Barnes and Noble, B.Dalton across the country. So it was nationwide, and Barnes and Noble, B.Dalton, and we made history as being the first independently owned comic book company in every single one of these locations. And if I’m coming into an industry, I want to come into it, you know, with arms swinging. Basically when, when we did it, the biggest issue, Borders wasn’t so bad, because they didn’t order Willy Nilly. But Barnes and Noble, when they ordered from us, they ordered like 10 books for each store, you got to do the numbers, the maths, they’re over 500 stores at the time, you know what I mean, it was upwards of six 700. So I don’t remember a lot of stores, but 10, 10 books, or at least for each. And they didn’t know how to sell, you know what I mean? So the money that was laid out, pays for all these books. But if they didn’t sell, they’d rip the cover off and then toss the rest of the book. So it was the biggest waste of money? Because you’d never make the money back. Yeah, for what it was, all it was, it was again to show that you’re out there. And yeah, we sold I mean, we sold a lot, but it wasn’t anywhere near what you needed. Because we were not Marvel or DC. You know what I’m saying? So
Alexandra:
Was it a revenue generator? Was it something that you like, now? Is it, is it more of a passion project? Was it a passion project? Because you can’t make it was a It’s not like a revenue generator for you? Or is it?
Brimstone:
Oh, it absolutely is. No, it absolutely became a revenue generator when I pulled it out of the local stores. And I pulled it out of yeah, when I pulled it out of Barnes and Noble, B.Dalton. And it’s just, you know, from the comic stores and doing the appearances and all the conventions. Yeah, we made the money back tenfold. You have to spend money and invest money in order to make money. And you know, the bigger risk, the bigger the reward. And we got a lot of, a lot of new fans from it. And, you know, so forget about just Brimstone fans, we got fans from the comic book world, but no idea who I was, which was great. When we really peaked is when I had met my late great buddy, Stan Lee, and I became the celebrity spokesperson for his foundation for literacy and children. So that’s when it really peaked because I was doing all these things for Stan, and the foundation, and so forth. And people really got to know who I was in that industry. What’s really funny is that we were just going to pull out the comic book. And when he called and then I was signing in at a convention. I’ll never forget, I was in Manhattan. And I was first getting back into doing cons again. And what do you call it? I was sitting with my friends, Peter and Angie Mayhew. So Peter and Angie were sitting next to me, they had a couple of kids books that they were looking to get published. And Angie goes, she’s looking at this and she goes, you know, Brim, I really love the way that you guys are just doing everything and how are you getting everything out there? Do you think you’d be interested in maybe publishing our books too? I said, “Well, sure. Why not?” And that’s when we incorporated and became Hound Comics Inc. And so it was. Hound Comics was the label, but it was Indie. And then when he calls, Hound Comics Inc, we became the publisher.
Alexandra:
Oh my gosh! I was gonna ask about it. So you publish now other people’s it’s all comics, but you publish other people’s
Brimstone:
Hand books, comics, books, kids’ books.
Alexandra:
I feel like you’re a perfect example of it too, because I think you’ve you know, you haven’t rested on your laurels either on your name and you’ve got The Grindhouse Radio, which I wanted to ask you about too, which is another thing. Is that revenue? Tell me a little bit about Grindhouse Radio and how that came about?
Brimstone:
So the comic books again when he called you got the Brimstone and The Borderhounds Comic that’s out there now. Okay, the Border-Pups kid’s book. Now when I started going on tour again at the time, my Director of Operations at unwish. I said to him, “I go”, Look, if I’m going back out on tour, and I’m gonna be on the road and wait for the family, we’re gonna be out there doing things. I said, I need to do more than just sitting on trains, planes and automobiles, or sitting in hotel rooms. I said, I need to be out and about and see the cities that I’m going to, maybe let’s do a foodie thing. So what do you call it, we wound up doing a show called Food Hound:Tidbits while on tour. We did that for three seasons. It was at the time, everybody was doing all the foodie stuff on all bits of social media. So we had a really nice following on there, we’re doing really, really well. And what I would do is I would take the fans, the people that were watching from the convention floor to the what we call the dinner tabletop, you know what I mean? And we’d go to five star restaurants in Mom and Pops hotdog shops. I mean, it was a lot of fun. And that became the side hustle. So even though I got paid at the conventions, I got per diems, and so forth, we were, we were eating for myself on my staff for free. So when he called because we’re doing the content of these locations. So when you’re talking about having a staff of between six and eight people that are constantly touring with you, and they’re out and about, do the maths, think about how much money I’m spending out to make sure people are taking care of. Right. So instead of doing that I’m bartering my services for free, what do you call it, for free food, that’s great, and drink. So what do you call it? So that saved me 1000s of dollars. So that being said, what do you call it? Now since I started doing the Food Hound thing? What’s the next natural progression of the Food Show? Food products? I’ve always been big into foodie stuff, seasoning, sauces, always wanted to do my own thing. So while I’m out and touring.
Alexandra:
You’re a chef too? I feel like you have so many talents. I can’t keep up because if you’re an artist or wrestler. You’re a cook.
Brimstone:
A Cook. That being said, you know my big thing was I wanted to you know have sauce and seasoning. So while I was in Ohio, I wound up meeting across the way to CaJohns Fiery Foods. What would you think about maybe doing a couple of celebrity based products? So he’d like, he’s like, I’d love to do it. So Bumble and I went and we wound up coming out with our own sauces and seasoning like. So in, so, the names of my sauces and seasonings are like flavor behavior, tastebud Tango. What do you call it? Grind house seasoning. You see where I’m going with this? Yeah. Now in the comic books, there’s a bar in the Wasteland that Brimstone and his cruel Border Hounds all hang out at as well as all the other Border Hound units. I’m not going into what they’re all about. But so inside there you can see the guys and they’re always eating you know sweet heat treat wings and their Grindhouse burgers. You see what I’m saying? So it’s all tied into, the, what’d he call it? The comic book as a sauce and seasoning to the comics, to the wrestling and when he calls it and then you take it another as another step forward and what do you call it? The Grindhouse Radio. The Grindhouse Radio is because it’s the house of Brim. Grindhouse, Grindhouse seasoning you know, and it goes straight back to me.
Alexandra:
Short story. So Grindhouse Radio, though, is huge. I mean, that’s on. I mean, in terms of listenership. So you launched that after this is probably your most. Is it your most recent endeavor, The Grindhouse Radio, would you say?
Brimstone:
Somewhat. So, so Grindhouse Radio, we started in 2015. So we’re seven years old. Originally, this was the side hustle and Hound Comics and Entertainment was, along with the Brimstone gimmick, what happened was Grindhouse took off so quickly, we incorporated and just built it from there. So Grindhouse right now does between three and a half, 4 million listeners weekly worldwide. We’re on iHeart and over 30 other networks syndicated now, again, we were on iHeart before anybody could just go and try to get themselves on iHeart. iHeart came to us.
Alexandra:
Well, so wait, okay, so you launched this. And then in terms of programming, this is a, this is like a podcast session you have talked to me about the programming because for people that are listening, I mean, I have a podcast just an amateur little podcast that I started but it’s really interesting to hear how you took I mean, how you have that many listeners? What does it look like so you decided to launch it? It was your name and the people, your connections and who you knew that kind of got it out there? Did you do a lot of advertising? Talk to me about that and the programming that goes into the station?
Brimstone:
First and foremost. I mean, I, what was funny is, I started, I started Grindhouse at Hound Comics Corporate. What’d he call it which I since closed down because everything became you know, the Grindhouse Radio. And what he calls it was funny because a couple of my interns from Hounds, they both had, two of them had a lot of radio experience. And I said to them, I said, “Well, you know, I’ve been considering putting something together. I already own the URL. I own the IP. Would you be interested in seeing what happened? It’s because we had such great banter in the office. Alright, this is it so the Grindhouse radio was born. Before we even put out the first episode I had gotten from friends. You’re talking about legends in the business, Stan Lee, Nichelle Nichols who gave me their clips, you know, hey, this is Stan Lee, and you’re listening to The Grindhouse Radio. You know what I mean? You know
Alexandra:
Tell everybody just so just so everybody knows that, if people don’t know who Stan Lee is, who is Stan Lee?
Brimstone:
He’s one of them, he’s the guy who created Spider Man. And, you know, The Incredible Hulk and a ton of the other big, you know, Marvel characters. And he’s the one that the old guy that you see in every one of the movies up until he passed away a couple of years ago. I was on a ton of different networks. We got on a bunch of college networks, which obviously helps. We were on a bunch of AM, FM’s, we were on a budget, there’s so many different things we’re on. And then what do you call it? We wound up doing getting the deal with iHeart, which was funny, because one of the shows that I had been friendly with that I’ve been a guest on a ton of times, they at the time, were on iHeart, they’re the ones that introduced us and iHeart gave us the deal.
Alexandra:
What year was it that you guys, because you’ve been around for you said this is?
Brimstone:
2005 is when we started, so 2015. So prior to 2016, it was about a year and changed after we started the show. So it was early. It was before the pandemic and everybody in their mother opened up a podcast, no offense.
Alexandra:
That’s what I was gonna say. I was gonna say, Well, you were like, The Cutting Edge Podcast. Because it is. it’s such a, it’s very saturated. And I feel like you guys have an incredible following. Just in the spirit of side hustles and kind of bringing this all sort of full circle, what would you consider now, if someone were to ask me you have so many offshoots? Is there a main portion of your business and then something that you consider, like more of the side hustle part of it? Like, is there a main income portion that brings in the majority of the income and then you know, another part of your business that is just sort of a passion, like more of a passion, side hustle of yours?
Brimstone:
As we speak right now, the Brimstone brand is still on the top, that makes me the most money, and then all my little things that are attached to Brimstone. And then what you call it, The Grindhouse Radio is the second moneymaker. We’re a corporation, we do very well for ourselves, we deal with all corporate sponsorships. And that’s how we make money. I know you’d asked that earlier. Yeah, our, our money, the way we make our money is corporate sponsorships, and advertising and so forth. So, you know, we pride ourselves on that. And we also do, we have a fully functional studio. So we do external stuff as well. So and, you know, we also do a lot of other things here, like Podcast 101, Podcast 201 yada, yada, yada, and that’s The Grindhouse Radio. And since I sell also, aside from owning a part of the company, I get commissions, and so forth, because again, I’m not lazy. I work just like everybody else. You know, people like to think that entertainment is all fun and games, guess what, buddy? Not if you’re doing it right. You know, if you’re doing it right, it’s work. And it’s a lot of work. And you can continue to do a lot of work, you have no idea what my schedule looks like. So the fact is, it is working, working, working, but uhm The Grindhouse Radio, and then everything after that becomes my side hustle. Yeah, and right now, like the Voice Work, I do a lot of Voice Work. So that is making me a lot of money, knock on wood, thankfully, I’m blessed.
Alexandra:
You have so much to offer, just in terms of your journey and what you’ve done. In terms of like, you’ve already offered so many tips, I feel like along the way, but for somebody who’s interested in getting into even like, one of your side hustles or starting a podcast, or writing a book of their own, or any of these things that you kind of started, I think it’s your advice is even better, just general side hustle advice, like what to do. And you’ve offered that great piece of advice earlier on. But is there anything else you can say to people who are, you know, managing a full time job, but want to kind of pursue a passion of theirs? Whether it’s a podcast or a book or starting a business? What would you say to those people?
Brimstone:
First of all, I want to say, “Never give up”, even if you think that it’s not working. As long as you’re working and you’re busting your hump, it will happen, I promise you, it’ll happen. But you’ve got to work for it, it’s not going to come easy, and it’s not going to happen overnight. The fact of the matter is, is it takes a lot of effort, a lot of hard work a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. And when you’re thinking that you’re just about ready to give up, you got to keep going because that’s when good things start to happen. You also have to get outside of your comfort zone. You know what I mean? If you think that something is that you’re the best writer or the best artists of the best, whatever it may be, but you’re afraid to make phone calls, hook up with people, meet new people, sell your products, sell your self. Alright, if you’re afraid of the phone, it’s never gonna happen for you. You know, when it comes to business, you need to be able to pick up a phone and have a conversation. You have to be able to do this When you and I got on, we’ve never spoken to each other before, but we’re having a conversation, we go back and forth, you have to be able to do that. And if you don’t feel comfortable, don’t expect to ever go anywhere ever. I appreciate where how people “Ohh I’m recluse”, or, you know, “Ohh I have this anxiety”, guess what, put on your big boy pants, big girl pants, and, you know, do whatever you have to do, and you make it happen. It drives me nuts, you know, my wife is very, very high anxiety, you know what I mean? However, when, when I had, you know, when I was doing, you know Hound comics, and we had corporate, she worked with me, she worked and she was the Receptionist, and the Office Manager, you know, and she hates the picking up the phone. She hates talking to people, but guess what? She did! And she said, Well, I got to do all this, gotta get this done, and it’s gotta get done. So what do we do, I gotta do it, she made all the phone calls, do whatever she needs to do to get it done. You know what I mean? Pick up the phone, stop being afraid of everything, it’s not gonna bite. The worst thing someone can say is NO. Who cares?
Alexandra:
I love it. I love it. I think that’s such solid advice. And I think you’re a wealth of knowledge for a number of reasons. So I love the advice of picking up the phone, because I do think that nothing can happen. And you know, if you, if you stay in your own world, and you don’t put yourself out there, and you have to put yourself in uncomfortable positions in order to grow or in order to do things
Brimstone:
You know, what the most heat that I got when I was wrestling, you know, on the regular, and you’ve got all these the boys, some of these guys, you know, obviously the ones that weren’t doing anything, would always sit and be like, oh, yeah, Mr. self promotion, all he does is promote and promote and self promoting? Well, guess what, if I’m not talking about myself, who the hell am I gonna talk about myself, you know what I mean? So you’ve got to be out there pushing yourself nonstop, you know, because again, there are millions of people doing the same thing that you’re doing. Yeah. So what makes you different, what makes you pop. And, you know, again, there’s so many ways to skin a cat, I hate to put it that way. But it’s true. You know, I mean, find your way, find something that is going to be inspirational, not only to your audience, but to yourself, that’s gonna make you want to continue to do things that are going to grow and blossom into something beautiful. A side hustle does not necessarily have to stay a side hustle. A side hustle can become something very, very big, and something very, very beautiful, or can stay as a small side hustle. If that’s what you prefer to be, you know, it really depends on what you want. And it’s all a matter of perspective. You know, my perspective is, I want to build and build and build and build. So the things that are on the side, will always come into the mainstream.
Alexandra:
Yeah. Well, I think that’s so well said. And that leads me into my last question before I just, you know, ask you to tell people where to find you and your website, and all that good stuff is. Where do you see, what’s your next big venture? What do you want to? What do you want to do next? Where do you see your business going?
Brimstone:
My next thing that I’d really, really like to conquer is I want to continue growing in voice, in the voice acting world, because I absolutely love that. And the other thing that I would really love to be able to make a smash in is your acting again, I want to get back in front of people on the big screen, I started there. And I’d like to be able to, you know, kind of go back to that spot. And when he calls it just bigger and better. And we’ll see what happens. You know what I mean? I, as long as you work for it, it’ll happen. You know, it’s just about learning how to juggle multiple things and multiple times, and I’m not bad at it. So
Alexandra:
No, you’re great at it. I have no doubt you will. I mean, I, like I said when I, I can’t wait to watch your career. And it’s been such a pleasure, like an absolute pleasure meeting you getting to hear about your story and how you got to where you are today. So just tell everybody in closing, you know, kind of where they can find you, your website, all your you know, different places where they can find you online.
Brimstone:
Sure, sure. What do you call it, the easiest place to find me is going to therealbrimstone.com All anything you need to know about me is all on that website. You know, give or take some things here and there. But when you call it, it’s updated at least once a day. So you always have new content somewhere in there. Whether it’s a new blog, a new vlog, a new podcast, a new this, new that, a new product, it’s always something there. That’s new, new pictures, new fan art, something’s there. You can also get all of my social media as well as my IMDb and all that on right there on the homepage and throughout the whole website. It’s right on the top left hand side. But you know, I’m very, very, very, listen, social media. I’m very involved in my Instagram at therealbrimstone, it’s verified, you know, it’s me. I’m happy to respond to anybody who reaches out. I love interaction. I love engagement. I will respond to everyone personally. It’s not my wife. It’s not my assistant. It’s not one of my co, co owners of Greiner. It’s me. I do it. It’s all me and when he calls, it might take me a little bit of time to get back to you sometimes. But for the most part, I’m pretty much on it and, and I appreciate the time that you spend there. I really hope that you will, you know, give me an opportunity to entertain you.
Alexandra:
Well, you’re incredible and I thank you so much for giving me your time. I know how busy you are. So I am so appreciative of the time that you took to be on my show and tell us your story and give some tips on side hustles because I think your, your experience and your advice is incredibly valuable. So thank you so much. It was such a pleasure meeting you